A study published by the New York Federal Reserve found that the number of job openings rose by an estimated 20% in the six months following the lapse of the federal government's extended unemployment benefits. The lapse occurred because the Republican controlled House refused to vote to extend the benefits.
Fatih Karahan, one of the authors of the study, cited the "mutually reinforcing effects of decreasing the burden on businesses to fund the benefits and decreasing the incentives of recipients to shun employment. If your tax burden of supporting benefits declines you can afford to hire more workers. Similarly, if the reward for idleness is taken away your need to seek and accept employment rises."
Jason Furman, Chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers didn't dispute the economic logic of the study's findings, but suggested that "certain intangible factors may have escaped the authors' attention. The lapse of the extended benefits may have sent more people back to work, but the study failed to calculate the loss in leisure time experienced by those compelled to take jobs in order to feed themselves and their families."
"A person receiving unemployment benefits is relieved of some of the stress of making a living," Furman pointed out. "Being forced into the work-a-day rat race will have long term negative health consequences. So too will the loss of extra time to spend with one's family—both for the employed individual and his children."
The fact that four out of five new jobs added this past month were in the low wage sector bolstered Furman's concern that "more may have been lost than gained. When all factors are considered is a low wage job really better than unemployment payments from an individual's perspective?"
if you missed any of this week's other semi-news/semi-satire posts you can find them at...
http://www.freedomsphoenix.com/Opinion/164101-2014-10-03-semi-news-a-satire-of-recent-news-october-5-2014.htm
